Being green has a silver lining for the Small Hotel of the Year

AN independently owned hotel in South Gloucestershire has been recognised for its efforts to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

The Alveston House Hotel, near Thornbury, has received a silver accreditation from the Green Tourism Business Scheme which monitors best environmental practice within the British tourism sector.

The hotel was given a silver award following its recent assessment by an environmental auditor.

The inspector found that Alveston House has “very good” environmental practices and has been formally recognised as a sustainable tourism operation.

Under the system assessments are carried out every two years with businesses being graded against more than 120 measures of best practice, ranging from energy conservation, water use and waste minimisation to purchasing, marketing and social responsibility.

In its report, Green Tourism commended the Alveston House owner’s commitment to sustainable principles and measures such as the hotel’s green action plan, energy-efficient services, promotion of public transport and sustainable purchasing of regional meat and dairy products.

Alveston House is the latest of only three hotels in the Bristol area to achieve a silver award for Green Tourism.

Hoteliers who gain accreditation have demonstrated their commitment towards reducing the impact of their business on the environment, and customers who use hotels accredited by the scheme are assured that the accommodation chosen is committed to sustainable tourism.

Julie Camm, the owner of the hotel, said that her entire team is thrilled with the latest accolade, which comes hot on the heels of the hotel’s success in winning the Small Hotel of the Year title in the 2010 Bristol Hospitality awards.

She said: “We have long been conscious of our environmental responsibilities as a business and our team has been working very hard to ensure that we have good practices in place – so we are truly delighted to have received this recognition.

“However, we also appreciate that there is more that we can do and we will continue to focus on sustainability across all parts of the business.”

Alveston House, which is located ten miles north of Bristol on the A38, prides itself on being a hotel for business and leisure combining the best of modern facilities with a traditional personal and caring service.

The hotel has 30 bedrooms, conference facilities for more than 100 guests, an award-winning restaurant and the highest AA rating of any three-star hotel in Bristol and the surrounding area.